Special Delivery

by Crystal Moore from the August 14, 2023 issue

Tagline: Back in the beach town of her childhood, Marina reconnects with an old crush from a pizzeria...and love is on the menu.

Observations: This was a darling story, despite the somewhat purple beginning. 

...a cry of agony pierced the night.

I haven't talked about a 3-act structure in a while and this story definitely has that. 

Act 1, we're introduced to Marina and her situation. She's coming off a break-up, she's at a beach rental she came to as a child, she had a crush on a pizza guy one summer and she's very sunburned.

Act 2 we meet the pizza boy, all grown up. We get information about how old they are--something I really appreciate when I'm reading Woman's World stories. Because they welcome adult protagonists of all ages, it's difficult to fully picture the characters if the author doesn't tell us how old they are. The same story can read very differently if it's about twenty-somethings vs seventy-somethings. 

Act 3, surprise! He returns with aloe gel, like the hero he is. And he asks her out. I liked his little jibe about red being her color. I always love humor in the story.

Photo by Ruth Hartnup via Flickr Creative Commons License